AAP to hold victory rally in UP, where it had less votes than NOTA

The Aam Aadmi Party will hold 'victory' marches in Uttar Pradesh - where it won zero seats in the 2022 Assembly election - to celebrate its thumping win in Punjab - where it claimed 92 of 117 seats and will form the next government under chief minister-designate Bhagwant Mann. AAP parliamentarian Sanjay Singh said the party's Punjab win showed that people had accepted the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit as a national alternative (an unsaid reference to the BJP and the Congress) and wanted to use the 'broom', the party's symbol, to 'clean politics'.

Singh was quoted by news agency PTI as saying the party will organise district- and state-level meetings in Lucknow on March 23 and 24 to review its performance in the UP polls.

The AAP is also expected to hold rallies in Punjab to mark its win there, which is its first chance to form a government outside Delhi. Bhagwant Mann, who was elected from the Dhuri constituency, will take oath as chief minister on Wednesday.

The Aam Aadmi Party contested all 403 UP Assembly seats but failed to win any. The party also recorded a dismal vote share of 0.38 per cent. In fact, the NOTA (none of the above) option available on EVMs received more 'votes'.

Several AAP candidates also lost their security deposits.

Nevertheless, the party remains confident that it made a positive intial impact on the minds of UP voters. The party's UP unit quoted Singh as saying: "Whatever the election result, AAP's policies, plans, 'Delhi model', and Kejriwal ji's face and party's flag reached every village. Everywhere there was talk of Aam Aadmi Party."

The party has attributed its poor performance in UP to the highly bipolar contest the state witnessed.

"The UP elections were a direct contest between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party and its allies. Therefore, other political parties did not get any votes and the same happened with the AAP,” Singh was quoted by PTI.

The results for 2022 Assembly elections - held in five states - were declared on Thursday. The Bharatiya Janata Party swept the polls in four - Uttar Pradesh, UttaraKhand, Goa and Manipur, whereas the Aam Aadmi Party witnessed a landslide victory in the state of Punjab.

The BJP retained UP with 273 of 403 seats, Uttarakhand with 47 of 70 seats, and Manipur with 32 of 60 seats. In Goa, the party is one below the magic number of 21 but has a formula in place and is all set to form the government.